Improvement in car-couplings



l. KECK.

Car-Couplings. No, 145,428, Patentednec. 9,1873.

lnventol' WQ im Y@ UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JAMES KECK,-OF DWIGHT, ILLINOIS.

IMPROVEMENT IN CAR-COUPLINGS.

Specitieation formingpart of Letters Patent No. 145,428, dated December 9, 1873; application filed April 24, 1873.

To all whom it may concern:

Beit known that I, JAMES KEGK, of Dwight,

in the county of Livingston and State of Illicars coupled by them.

Like letters refer to like parts in the several igures.

The nature of'this invention relates to an improvement in car-couplings ot' that class which are known as harpoon couplings,77 and which automatically couple two cars tted with them when the. said cars come together, and so arranged as to be disconnected from the top ot' the car, one of the objects of the invention being to enable train-men to uncouple box Ireight-cars from the top. The invention consists in the peculiar construction of the drawbars with a harpoon-head, for coupling any two ot' them together, and the arrangement oftheir supporting-springs.

In the drawing, A represents the floor of a box-car, and B B the longitudinal bumpersills under its end. C is my improved drawbar, pivoted between the sills B by a pin, a, passing through a horizontal longitudinal slot, b, near its inner end, which allows the drawbar to have the necessary longitudinal play. The outer part is supported by a strong spiral or other spring, D, in a frame, c, pendent from the sills B, which spring presses the draw-bar upward against the bottom of the car. The outer end of the draw-head is enlarged, and in front of that it is retracted in thickness, so as to have a wide but thin neck, e, beyond which the draw-bar is enlarged again, and then tais a longitudinal vertical section ot' a pair of myimproved couplings attached to two pered to a point, giving the end a form of the harpoon, so that when two cars fitted with such couplings come together one harpoon will override the other until their respective barbs interlock. In this position they are held by their respective springs.

To prevent the harpoons from uncoupling by the lateral swaying ot' the cars, the point et' each harpoon has a vertical slot, f, formed in it which embraces a rib, g, formed on the shoulder of the opposing coupling, which will prevent the uncoupling, unless one car should jump the track7 in which case it will not drag the succeeding car after it. At the base ofthe slot a longitudinal lilik-socket, h, is formed in the harpoon-head, with which a vertical pinhole, t', intersects, so that the car may be coupled with another provided with the ordiA nary link-and-pin coupling.

To uncouple the cars, a bracket, F, is erected at the top of the car-end, to which one end et' a lever, Gr, is pivoted, to which is pivoted the upper end of a rod, H, the lower end ot which is secured to an eye in the top of the draw-head. By depressing the lever ofthe coupling which happens to be lowermost, the latter is forced down out of engagement with the other.

To prevent a car from coupling again, the lever plays between a pair of vertical standards, I, on the root of the car, having a number of holes drilled through them, through any pair of which a pin may be passed above the lever, and thus keep the coupling-hook from rising to the couplingplane.

l-Vhat I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

rlhe draw-bar C, having a harpoon-head, with the vertical slotf, pin-hole z', and rib g, in combination with the spring D, adapted to operate with a draw-head of similar construction, as set forth.

JAMEs KEeK.

fitnesses WILLIAM S. SIMS, W. H. KETCEAM. 

